So you've traveled the majority of the civilized universe (if you can consider any of what's left civilized, that is...) when all of a sudden, two new species appear out of the blue! What would the most likely explanation be for this sudden appearance of a species that seems to have such a rich and detailed history despite their having existed all of two minutes? Two words: expansion pack. Relic's sending out another one for their masterpiece Dawn of War, and it's looking mighty fine.

Dark Crusade, as its subtitled, is an addition that seems to be bringing a great deal of new content. First and foremost is the inclusion of two new and vastly different races, each with its own set of buildings, units, and soon-to-be-annoying confirmations. Beyond these new beings to control or annihilate, we're also getting handed five new powerful units for the previous races (one new unit per race, for the counting disinclined). Also, there's a new campaign which apparently will be something like a conquer the world style game, but with some Warhammer flair. Finally, there's the ability to improve your commander through gaining various items on the battlefield.

While I didn't get to try all of this out, I was able to play as one of the new races, the Tau. The Tau are a very strange race, but that's not unusual for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. These guys are all about the ranged fire, having abilities to slow enemy rushes, and occasionally even throwing in some fodder close-combat troops to keep the enemy as far from their true fighters as possible. The two basic combat squads are your Fire Warriors and your Kronos Carnivores. The Fire Warriors are damn useful and can fight their way out of plenty of situations, especially when they see the enemy first. Ranged warfare is extremely solid with these guys, bringing in a starship that can terrorize from screen-lengths away and the invisible scouting units get so many upgrades they become quite the formidable force when played correctly. Once you get beyond the normal hubbub of settling in and getting some defensive units up, you're faced with a choice. Tau have two separate technology trees that are mutually exclusive. If you want to get a certain powerful unit, you have to go down that technology tree's path, locking off several units and a few upgrades from the battle. The race's goal of unity and equilibrium might be a bit noble in theory, but in actuality these suckers pack one hell of a punch.

The game plays very, very similarly to the way it did before this expansion so if that was your thing, then so is this. The Neocrons bring an interesting touch which I've yet to see in gameplay, but sounds very cool. They do not use requisition to gain units, but simply summon units faster based on their amount of requisition. All of the resource costs for units come from Power, so generators might be a very weak point for the race. Though a weak point on a Neocron is a needle in a haystack at best from what I've seen of gameplay.

I had the opportunity to rush a Blood Raven base with my Tau forces, and it was very exhilarating seeing the wall of Kronos Carnivores charging forward, followed by Fire Warriors and even a few XV8s for good measure. On the way to the base, I had optional side-missions of claiming a temple from the Blood Raven's vile grasp and intercepting their fort's reinforcements. It's not an easy job taking on the space marine armies, but the Tau must to bring about peace eternal. Bring down whatever forces you choose in just a few days! Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade hits stores on October 9th.